


The Meaning of Chi

by Julia_Fractal



Series: Daredevil & Defenders Fics [8]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Defender!Elektra, Defenders Group Bonding, Eastern Philosophy, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Martial Arts, Post-Defenders, Post-Luke Cage Season 2 (Minor Spoilers), Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:38:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15096899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julia_Fractal/pseuds/Julia_Fractal
Summary: *~*~*“Feel theChi, Luke,” Danny tells him, hovering over his shoulder like an annoying little blond Yoda.“HOW?” Luke bursts out in frustration.*During a group sparring session, half the Defenders team attempts to explain the concept ofChito the other half.*~*~*





	The Meaning of Chi

**Author's Note:**

> Contains MINOR SPOILERS for Luke Cage Season 2. Set in a future timeline where Elektra has joined the Defenders and re-united with Matt.

*~*~*

“ _Feel_   _the_ _Chi_ , Luke,” Danny tells him, hovering over his shoulder like an annoying little blond Yoda.  
  
“HOW?” Luke bursts out in frustration.  This Defenders group training session had begun with some light one-on-one sparring, and Luke was already 0 for 3.  First losing out to Danny, then Matt, and worst of all Elektra, who launched a crazy-ass spinning kick that swept Luke’s legs out from under him and landed his ass on the mat in 30 seconds flat.  It’s a good thing D.W. isn’t here with his camera in hand, or else Luke would have gone from Harlem’s Hero to Harlem’s Laughingstock in no time flat.  
  
“You might as well be telling me to use the Force!  How am I supposed to harness my _Chi_ to punch harder if I don’t understand what it is in the first place?”  
  
“Actually, George Lucas was borrowing from the principles of Taoism and Buddhism when he invented the Force,” Colleen chimes in.  “The whole Star Wars lifeforce idea _is_ over-simplified, but it’s not a bad place to start.”  
  
“Good God, not this woo-woo bullshit again!” Jessica pipes up.  “Can we please get back to the ass-kicking portion of training?  I want to see if I can beat up Luke too!"

"Thanks, Jess," Luke answers drily.  For the next few minutes he'll happily take Eastern Philosophy 101 over another round in the ring.  
  
“ _Chi_ is very real,” Matt explains calmly.  “And it’s the foundation of all Eastern martial arts.  The real point of all the drills and practice isn’t just to learn a sequence of kicks and punches, it’s to build the pathways between the mind, body, and spirit.”  
  
“What does the word _Chi_ actually mean?” Luke asks, “And why does everyone seem to pronounce it differently?”  
  
“Literally it simply means  _air_ — as in the air all around us, and the breath moving in and out of your lungs,” Elektra answers.  “It’s pronounced _Chi_ in Cantonese, _Qi_ in Mandarin, and _Ki_ in Japanese, but they’re all referring to the same thing.”  
  
Luke suddenly has a lightbulb moment.  “Hey, is that why you kung-fu types do all that heavy breathing when you fight?” he asks, and gets an answering round of nods and grins from around the room.  
  
“But on a deeper, spiritual level,” Danny adds, “ _Chi_ is the energy that moves through and connects all living things.”  
  
“We talk about it all the time in medicine too,” Claire joins in.  “Only we call it mindfulness, flow, being truly present in the moment.  There are all sorts of practices for getting there, like yoga, meditation, and Tai Chi.”    
  
“Claire, you’re already starting to get flashes of it during training,” Colleen tells her with a smile. “You’ve come so far in just a year!”  
   
“Thanks, Sensei Colleen!” Claire answers with an even bigger smile.  
  
Jessica crosses her arms over her chest, skeptical as ever.  “I still don’t see how it makes you a better fighter.”  
  
“Once I almost died after getting slashed across the abdomen with a poisoned sword,” Elektra volunteers.  “Harnessing my _Chi_ through healing meditation sped up the recovery process, and I was back up and killing a man within a week.”

There's a moment of stunned silence as everyone except Matt stares at her in shock.  “Well, he tried to kill me first,” Elektra finishes.  
  
“I’m glad you’re on our side now,” Luke tells her, “But damn you’re still scary!”  
  
Claire chuckles at that and adds, “There’s also Madam Gao.  We’ve all seen her blow apart doors and hurl cars across the room.  Her _Chi_ is so strong that she doesn’t even need to make contact to move an object.”  
  
Jessica is still unconvinced.  “Madame Gao probably got her powers from the same K’un-Lun School of Magic and Mysticism as Danny, and Elektra’s an undead super ninja.  None of this has anything to do with the reality I live in.”  
  
“We all live in the same reality,” Danny answers.  “Plus there’s no such school in K’un-Lun.  I became the Immortal Iron Fist by fighting and defeating the dragon Shou-Lao and —”  
  
_“We know, Danny!”_ everybody groans in unison.  
  
“ _Chi_ is also about connection,” Matt adds. “Connecting all the different parts of your body so that energy can flow where it’s needed.  Connecting to other people and the world around you: like when everyone does ‘The Wave’ at a sports game, or when you’re walking through the deep woods and communing with nature, or um…”  
  
“Or during really,  _really_ good sex,” Elektra jumps in while Matt racks his brain for a third example.  
  
Matt blushes adorably and takes Elektra’s hand, the two of them smiling like love-struck teenagers, and looking as connected as two people could get.  
  
“The trouble is you can’t really find your _Chi_ through words,” Colleen continues.  “It’s like a sneeze or a tickle, you can describe it all you want to another person, but they won’t truly understand until they feel it for themselves.”  
  
And they're right back to where they started.  “Again I ask, _how_?”  
  
“Let’s try a quick group meditation,” Danny says, finally offering a practical suggestion.  
  
Luke sits down cross-legged and clasps hands with Matt on his left side, Danny on his right.  All around them the other team members link hands and do the same.  
  
Breathe.  
  
In and out.

In.  And out.  
  
In.    
  
And.  
  
Out.  
  
Suddenly he was there.  A moment of wordless, perfect clarity.  Like waking up underwater after Bushmaster knocked him off the bridge.  Only instead of water he’s hyper-aware of the currents of air moving around the room, flowing across his skin.  And there’s another intangible current of _something_ connecting all of them.  
   
Energy. Flow. Life.  
  
“Sweet Christmas,” Luke whispers as his eyes snap open.  
  
“You got it!” Danny says with a huge smile.  
  
Across the circle, Jessica slowly opens her eyes, looking calmer than he’d seen her in a long time.  “I felt… something.  I’m still not fully sold on this, but I promise not to punch the next person who says ‘ _Feel the Chi_ ’ in the face.”  
  
Luke asks, “Am I supposed to channel that state _while_ I’m fighting people?”  
  
“It's not easy, but yes.”  
  
“That’s going to take a  _lot_ of time and practice.”  
  
“Yes, it is.”  
  
Luke climbs to his feet and resumes his fighting stance, “Let’s get to it!”

 

*~*~*

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos unleash my happy dance :)


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